UK air traffic control provider launches flight tracking app

Journey through the structure of UK airspace – the ‘invisible infrastructure’

A new flight tracking app by UK air traffic control company, NATS promises users a new perspective on the skies above Britain, featuring real UK radar data and a unique three dimensional view.

Most existing flight tracking apps use a crowd sourced version of a technology called ADS-B. While this is an excellent flight tracking technology, not all aircraft are equipped to support it, so coverage can be limited.

Airspace Explorer uses real radar data to track aircraft in the UK. That’s the same data that air traffic controllers use to safely guide the 6,500 aircraft that fly through the skies each day, so not only is it very accurate it also offers excellent coverage and refreshes at a fast rate.

The free app also provides a 3D view that gives a true sense of the relative altitudes of aircraft and the shape and size of the areas of controlled airspace in the UK.

Military airspace highlighted in red

See airport arrivals and departures in 3D

The app includes 3D models for all the most popular aircraft types

Radar data is both very accurate and refreshes every few seconds

Explore the airspace in 3D

Airport arrival and departure routes

While still in beta, and actively undergoing continual development and improvement, users can pan, zoom and move around the airspace in 3D, learn more about how it’s structured and view flight paths in and out of airports to gain a sense of the approach and departure routes each aircraft flies.

Matthew Mills, NATS Head of Digital Communications, said: “Airspace Explorer is based on an internal app we have at NATS, and while it’s similar to other flight tracking apps out there we’ve included some unique and exciting features that we hope will give users an insight into the airspace as we see it.

“Our airspace is really the invisible infrastructure that underpins civil aviation, but it’s complex and layered. To help see and understand these highways in the sky we’ve included a unique 3D mode that shows flight paths and airspace structures. The addition of radar data for the UK also means users can get a very accurate picture of aircraft arrival and departures routes.”